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Show You'll Forget " That It Is i ' . Fiction ' i - By OLaUELX WTNGEB, , ta tha "Ctty of JJIIes" Anthony Pryde and It K. Weeks have gives us a collaboration which holds attention at-tention from cover to cover. Although Al-though tha scheme la not new. tha story has that fundamental quality qual-ity of goad fiction, ta that It makes one forget It la flenon. The plot centers about a fictitious principality, princi-pality, called . Keuberg. somewhere adjacent to Aus(rla or OermanyT ruled by an. hereditary prmoe. Helnrtrh. the ruler, ta depleted, aa usual, aa a mechanical, literary and artlstlq genlua Destiny la tha main object af his adoration, but ha reckons reck-ons hit existence from a basis nf hypochondriasis and la continually dwelling oa how smoothly thtnga will go la Nsuberg after hla own demise. ' M. de Luo. a supposed Kngllah-msn. Kngllah-msn. la his chancellor. Margaret, hla royal wife. Is a princess In her own right and a first cousin of bis highness. Bo much for the main charaetera who live la the royal circle. 1 - ' Beyond tha palace gates It la hhtted lhat trouble la brewing. Meni tlon Is mads of a mystsnoua league that threatens a revolution. Valentin Val-entin Miller's Is tha pivotal mind j around which ths revolutionary ! plans revolve.. Heinrlch'g character la all that any self respecting monarch's should not he. He makea to free with the ladles of tha- court Indulges In-dulges ths most pernioious practice, prac-tice, among hla favoritaa, and rules with fear of guillotine and dungeon. dun-geon. Capricious to tha 'nth ee-gree, ee-gree, ha ehope off heeds of former I friends with little compunction. . i Uke a well oiled mechanism the story moves along to ths serolu-,tlon. serolu-,tlon. which aver loome like an ln erttable dfsastsr. Valentin holds numerous m setters, literally under tha nose of the chief of police, for tha rendeavoua la la underground chambers. i Mercedes. 4 ballet dancer. Injects herself Into the story by Joining the league and, later, becoming tha wife of Valentin. With her matrimonial mat-rimonial advent, thlnge begin to happen. Tha action qulckena The royal coach 1st attacked In the public square, to divert- attention I away from the guillotining of a I farmer court favorite so that he ! may be rescued on tha very acaf- fold from hla siecutloners, by j membera of the league. Ths next day lbs revolution la opened with aa attack on ths palace. pal-ace. Helnrlcb does not wait for the revolutionary sword to glvs him "roup do grace." out ellpe off this mortal eotl by ths aid of a tiny vial of cyanide whicn he haa carried car-ried concealed in the setting of a ring. He Is found dead by the In-vsders In-vsders and. eacept for tha faot that ths chsncellor and tne chief of police po-lice escape, tha revolution la quia, ly consummated, a ivmplete yeu- "valentln at once calla a conference confer-ence by the neighboring rules. While It la in progress the chancellor rurhea and explains mat he waa not drowned, as MW wpurtsd. aiirt Valentin then makes him prince of the realm by producing the recorde to ahow that he and the former chancellor are really brothers, sons of a cousin of Hslnrlch's, whom ths latter had put ta death early in hla career. The narrative enda with everyone happy and the league dispersed. dis-persed. (Hubert M. McBrlde Ca-New Ca-New York.) |